Event Title
The Effects of Mortality Salience on the Ability to Encode Information
Presentation Type
Poster/Portfolio
Presenter Major(s)
Psychology
Mentor Information
Todd Williams, willitod@gvsu.edu
Department
Psychology
Location
Kirkhof Center KC51
Start Date
13-4-2011 10:00 AM
End Date
13-4-2011 11:00 AM
Abstract
Terror Management Theory says that the unique human capacity for self-awareness leads individuals to experience anxiety when they think of their own death. Past research has shown that reminders of death cause individuals to seek out information that supports their worldview while rejecting the contrary (Burke, Martens & Faucher, 2010). The current study extends these findings by examining whether reminders of death facilitates or inhibits the learning of new information. Participants with either creationist or evolutionary worldviews read an article written from a pro-creation perspective and completed reading comprehension questions. Half of the Ps completed a death (vs. paralysis) prime prior to reading the article and half after. We predicted that mortality salience would promote learning of worldview consistent information and hinder learning of the converse. We predicted that this would occur when Ps were given the death prime before the article, rather than after.
The Effects of Mortality Salience on the Ability to Encode Information
Kirkhof Center KC51
Terror Management Theory says that the unique human capacity for self-awareness leads individuals to experience anxiety when they think of their own death. Past research has shown that reminders of death cause individuals to seek out information that supports their worldview while rejecting the contrary (Burke, Martens & Faucher, 2010). The current study extends these findings by examining whether reminders of death facilitates or inhibits the learning of new information. Participants with either creationist or evolutionary worldviews read an article written from a pro-creation perspective and completed reading comprehension questions. Half of the Ps completed a death (vs. paralysis) prime prior to reading the article and half after. We predicted that mortality salience would promote learning of worldview consistent information and hinder learning of the converse. We predicted that this would occur when Ps were given the death prime before the article, rather than after.